People sometimes ask how Destino Ventures started. The honest answer is: it started because I went on a bad tour.
The bad tour
September 2017. I’d saved up enough for what was supposed to be a dream Hunza trip. Booked through a Lahore-based operator who came highly recommended on Facebook. The price was reasonable. The photos on their page were stunning. I should have known better.
What we actually got: a 22-seater bus that broke down twice, hotels swapped without notice for cheaper ones, “all meals” that meant chicken karahi for lunch and dinner every day, a guide who didn’t know the difference between Altit and Baltit Fort, and a missed sunrise at Eagle’s Nest because the guide overslept.
I came back angry and made a Google Doc. “If I ran a tour, here’s how I’d do it differently.” The list had 23 items. That was the seed of Destino Ventures.
The first trip
March 2018. Six guests. All friends or friends-of-friends. A short Murree-Patriata weekend. We made about PKR 4,000 profit in total — almost nothing. But the WhatsApp group from that trip is still active. Three of those six guests have travelled with us every single year since.
I learned more from that one tiny trip than from a year of planning. The biggest lesson: tour guests don’t buy “a tour”. They buy a feeling that everything is being handled, so they can stop being responsible for a few days. That’s the actual product.
The mistakes
For transparency, the things we got wrong on the way:
- Pricing too low for the first 18 months. We thought low prices meant fast growth. They mean fast burnout instead.
- Trying to do too many destinations. In year two we ran 11 destinations. Now we run six well. Customer satisfaction went up when we cut.
- One bad guide who lasted too long. He was a friend. He wasn’t a tour guide. It took two season reviews to fix.
- Skipping insurance in early days. A genuine misstep. We now have full coverage for every tour and never run without it.
Who we are now
A small team. Four full-time staff in Islamabad, three drivers we work with regularly, and a network of local guides in each major destination who get a guaranteed minimum number of days per season. About 70 tours a year. Most of them are repeat customers or referrals.
What we won’t do
- We won’t run 30-person bus tours. The economics tempt every operator. The experience suffers every single time.
- We won’t cut corners on transport. Cheap vans get you cheap problems on mountain roads.
- We won’t use stock photos on social media. Every photo you see is from a tour we actually ran. The guests in the photos are guests we know.
- We won’t inflate group sizes mid-tour. If we promised you a 10-person group, you’ll get a 10-person group, not 14.
What’s next
2026 plans: a slow expansion into Astore and Phander valley, a winter program for Skardu, and our first attempt at a women-only Hunza tour. We’ve been asked for that for three years and finally have the right team to run it well.
If you’ve read this far
Thank you. WhatsApp me directly if you’re thinking of a trip. I answer most messages within an hour, sometimes faster. Whether you book with us or not, I’m happy to point you to the right operator if we’re not the right fit. Travel in Pakistan’s north is too good to be ruined by a bad first experience.
Want to come with us?
We run small-group tours every week from April to October. Transport, hotels, meals, and a real local guide — all included.
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